Friday, November 12, 2010

Thursday: The good get better, the worst get worse

Well, I can remember writing that there were some pretty good goaltending performances of late. Not Thursday. Well, there were some. But there were a lot of big offensive games too.

The growing powers--Jeff Carter netted a hat trick and Danny Briere potted two goals with an assist as Philadelphia blew past the Hurricanes, 8-1. Sergei "Bob" (dumbest nickname ever) Bobrovsky made 35 saves.--Instead of Stamkos v. Ovechkin, it was Alexander Semin who stole the show, tallying a hat trick and two helpers as Washington doubled up Tampa Bay, 6-3.--Dan Cleary and Tomas Holmstrom each scored twice as Detroit routed Edmonton, 6-2. Jimmy Howard made 23 saves.--Power play goals by Justin Williams and Jack Johnson in the third period broke a 1-1 tie and Los Angeles edged Dallas, 3-1. Jon Quick made 27 saves.

Extra hockey--Artem Anisimov's second goal of the game came early in overtime and the Rangers dealt Buffalo another loss, 3-2. Martin Biron made 29 saves for the win.--J.P. Dumont scored with under seven minutes remaining in regulation to force overtime and Nashville knocked off St. Louis, 3-2 in a shootout. Pekka Rinne stopped 21 shots. The loss was the first at home for the Blues.--Dwayne Roloson made 37 saves but Dan Boyle's power play strike and goal in the shootout gave San Jose a 2-1 win over the Islanders. Antero Niittymaki stopped 24 shots.

Kipa Jinx of the nightRemember how I said the Wild were playing well? Sorry about that.

Goals by noted sharpshooters Ben Eager and Jim Slater in the first period helped propel Atlanta past the Wild, 5-1. Fredrik Modin, Nik Antropov and Andrew Ladd also scored and Ondrej Pavelec made 32 saves for his first win of the year.

Remember when Martin Havlat was good? Me neither.

Penalty killing killed the BruinsBoston entered the night with the league's top-ranked penalty killing unit at over 90 percent. It'll be a little lower now.

Montreal converted two of five power play chances, including rookie P.K. Subban's first goal, and knocked off Boston, 3-1. Carey Price made 34 saves. Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez also scored. Tuukka Rask made 38 saves.

--Early struggles aside, Philadelphia and Washington are emerging along with Los Angeles and Detroit as the league's top four teams. The Blues are in the conversation, probably fifth, but their staying power remains to be seen. Ditto Montreal.

--Vancouver's in the mix but needs to perform better on the road, Thursday's win excepted. Ditto the Bruins except for at home, where they're 2-3-1.

--Big win for the Predators, both because it was at St. Louis and simply two points. The season wasn't about to spiral out of control, thanks to Nashville's strong start, but the Preds needed to end that long losing streak.

--Not a good audition for Pascal Leclaire as he tries to win back the #1 job in Ottawa.

POI

Your Bloggers

Nick in New York (NiNY) is just a guy with a computer and a love of hockey. And a wife and two daughters whom he adores. And a decreasing ability to metabolize beer in a way that doesn't, er, add to the bottom line, as it were.

Feel free to toss him an email with any thoughts on the blog, or the sport.

Mason...you don't really want to mess with Mason. He's nasty with the writing skillz. And can drop some ridic culture pulls into his narrative. Lover of haiku.

Mason can be reached at: jaredmas@gmail.com

Did you know that no two zebras' stripes are the same? Well we have a zebra here at HTP, and his name is Doubles. Only he's a hockey zebra - and he's here going to share his great wealth of hockey knowledge from an on-ice official's standpoint with you. Feel free to read him in Chris Rock's voice.